Olympic Women's Gymnastics 2012: Winners & Losers from London Games

In what could possibly go down as the most dramatic and controversial Olympics gymnastics competition of all time, there were some moments of greatness like the Chinese women dominating the beam and the "Fab Five" winning the team gold medal.

There were also moments of heartbreak like the Russian women's collapse on the floor exercise and Jordyn Wieber falling short of a slot in the all-around finals.

As always, there are winners and losers from this competition. Take a look at the biggest ones.

Winner: Aly Raisman, U.S.

Aly Raisman, hands-down, had the most exciting and tumultuous Olympic experience of any gymnast at the Games.

She had the meet of her life during prelims and beat out Jordyn Wieber and Gabby Douglas to be the No. 2 all-around qualifier. Then Raisman helped lead Team USA to a gold medal.

She missed out on the bronze medal in the all-around due to a tiebreak rule. She came back a few days later and won a tiebreaker bronze medal on the balance beam.

Then she finished on top of it all with a gold medal on the floor exercise, ending with more medals than any American gymnast.

 

Loser: Team China

The Chinese women failed to deliver after winning the gold medal in Beijing. 

They didn't even make the medal stand in the team competition due to weak performances on beam (fourth), vault (fifth) and floor (seventh).

China finished with 174.430 points, 1.984 points behind Romania and over nine points behind the U.S.

Balance beam was the only event they really shined on, when their gymnasts finished 1-2. China won one other medal on the uneven bars.

After so much success in Beijing this is a big disparity for them.

Winner: Gabby Douglas, U.S.

Gabby Douglas will go down in Olympic history as one of the most successful American gymnasts of all time.

Douglas made American and African American history by being the first American woman to win a gold medal in the team and individual all-around and the first African American woman to win the individual all-around gold.

She won the crowd over with her acrobatic dance moves and broad smile and will serve as an inspiration for young gymnasts.

Loser: Jordyn Wieber, U.S.

There's no single direction to point your finger. Jordyn Wieber missed out on the individual all-around finals.

You can blame Wieber for not performing well enough, blame Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman for edging her out or blame the FIG for having a two-per-country rule.

All you can really do is look at the facts: the defending world champion and easily one of the best women's gymnasts in the world looked on from the stands as everyone else competed for the coveted gold medal in the individual all-around.

Even though Wieber won a team gold medal, there's always going to be a bit of disappointment there.

"It was tough sitting in the stands watching because I wanted to be out there competing," she told the Detroit News. "So it stinks, but that's the way it turned out. Just leaving with the team gold is pretty awesome, though."

Winner: Catalina Ponor, Romania

Catalina Ponor proved that comebacks were possible.

She may not have had a perfect competition, or had been quite as successful as when she won three gold medals in 2004, but she kept fighting throughout the Olympic competition.

Ponor displayed difficult skills and strong execution. She also showed poise in tough situations, like when Aly Raisman beat her in a tiebreak for the bronze medal.

Her hard work paid off with a silver on the floor exercise.

Loser: Russian Floor Exercise

Team USA may have had the lead during the entire team finals, but Russia was on their heels.

Then, in the last event everything just fell apart for the Russians. The American women knew all they had to do was hit their routines to win the gold, while the Russians looked on and wept.

In an uncharacteristic way, the Russians made multiple uncharacteristic mistakes on the floor. They had scores of 14.800, 14.333 and 12.466. 

In a three-up, three-count format these scores just killed any chance they had at gold.

Winner: Aliya Mustafina, Russia

Mustafina had an amazing comeback in London. After a rough start, the 2010 world all-around champion ended with the most medals of any gymnast, in a competition of the deepest field. 

She helped Russia to the team silver medal and then tied with Team USA’s Aly Raisman for third place in the all-around, but won the bronze due to a tiebreak rule.

Mustafina won her long-awaited gold medal in the uneven bars finals and finished off with another bronze on the floor exercise.

Loser: Gymnastics Officials

If this Olympic gymnastics competition was anything, it was confusing and not just for the average spectator but for the gymnasts and coaches too.

With tie breaks, rules and score changes, there always seemed to be someone frantically jogging around the arena before the medal ceremony.

The tiebreak rule had to be put into play multiple times: with Aliya Mustafina and Aly Raisman in the all-around and with Aly Raisman and Catalina Ponor on the beam.

Raisman's coach had to file an inquiry on the beam because she wasn't given the correct difficulty score.

And that's only on the women's side; there was even more confusion for the men.

Winner: The Fab/Fierce Five

It can be safely said that the five members of the U.S. women's gymnastics team captured America's heart when they won the first team gold medal for America since 1996.

Whether their nickname sticks as "The Fab Five" or "Fierce Five" the women will always be remembered as those who finally did it again.

The women had an extremely strong team final and showed no signs of weakness. From the very first routine, there was little possibility that any team would pass them.

Loser: McKayla Maroney

McKayla Maroney was selected to Team USA for her vaulting prowess.

She has the most consistent and difficult Amanar vault of anyone, anywhere. It's the most difficult and dangerous vault in the world and she seems to nail it effortlessly, time after time.

Maroney was a shoo-in for the vault gold medal; she was untouchable in the event. In the individual event finals, she hit her Amanar vault but during the second the unthinkable happened and she landed on her butt.

She was still able to pull off a silver medal because of her difficulty, but she lost her gold medal and only has herself to blame.